Two cute

I have a backlog of photos I want to share, but I'm too tired tonight to do that. Instead, I'm posting because I want to remember these two really cute and incredible things Chase did today.

First, we were in the living room and he was standing with one hand on his little walker-wagon and one hand on my leg. He'd been trying to get to my cell phone - and becoming very upset when I wouldn't hand it over - so I handed him his cell (an old inactive one we had in the garage). he was so excited to grab it, he did so with TWO hands - letting go of both of his supports. I don't think he really noticed; he was intent on opening the cell, standing wide legged and only a bit wobbly while I grinned for ear to ear and shouted (in my head) "Look at you! You're STANDING!!!" After about 10 seconds, he started to wobble, and rested his hand on my leg while he sank to kneeling. He did it again this evening, just letting go and standing for a few seconds. I don't think he'll be walking by his 14-month birthday (another week), but it won't be long now.

A little later, we were sitting on the kitchen floor, where he was insisting on drinking a strawberry smoothie from a "big boy cup" without any help from Mama. We both had our legs out in front of us and we were facing each other, with Chase between my knees. Well, he must have gotten frustrated with how I kept helping him and reminding him to hold the cup steady (and then reminding him to "tip it a little more" when he was trying to drink) - he suddenly pushed on the floor with his heels and spun around, facing away from me! This made him giggle. He took another sip of smoothie (and dribbled a little on the floor), then did it again, ending up facing me. Another giggle, another sip, more spinning. Soon he was just spinning himself around and around, stopping every once in a while to giggle and sip more smoothie. :-D OMG, I about died holding in my own laughter.

By the time he was done, there were plops of strawberry smoothie all over the floor, a dab of strawberry in his hair, and several dribbles of strawberry down his shirt. Addie (our dog) and I both took a stab at cleaning the floor, then Chase got a bath to wash off all the sticky. (He did more cute stuff in the bath, but I said I'd talk about two things...)

Gosh, I love my boy!

Chase types!

Finally, FINALLY, Mama let me get on the computer so that I can blog. ALAH!

Life has been pretty good for me lately. Did you know I have two more teeth now? One in front on the bottom, so that makes three there. And one in the back on top. Mama says it's a molar and it will help me chew tough things like chicken and carrots. I hope it finishes coming in soon, 'cause I don't like it when Mama doesn't share ALL her food with me.

Speaking of food, I found a new favorite. At my buddy Kiran's birthday party, my buddy Liam and I shared beans that his mama made. They were easy to pick up, and easy to chew, and TASTY. My mama made some yesterday and we ate them today with leftover steel-cut oatmeal and chopped tomatoes. It was yummy :-D

Ooo, my favoritist new game is so much fun! maybe you do this too? I love to take things out of drawers and boxes. And I like to put them in, too! Only sometimes I think it's funner to put them in something else, like the black cylinder with the cool lid in my room [Mama says: it's the garbage pail for disposable diapers, and mostly what he likes to put in there are his shoes or Duplo blocks].

Doggy is getting friendlier. She almost lets me pet her twice in a row now, although sometimes I forget I'm only supposed to pat and I end up with her hair in my hand. When that happens, I always show Mama. Oh, and doggie ate out of my hand the other day! It was so cool I didn't even mind that I had meant to eat that Cheerio myself.

I've discovered all these cool things in my room called "books". I love to take them off the shelf and put them on the floor, or hand them one at a time to Mama or Daddy. There are a couple that I even ask Mama or Daddy to read to me...it's so much fun to hear the same one 10 times in a row! Some of them have flaps and things I can touch and turn myself, and some have pictures of other babies. My favorite is a picture of a laughing baby. I make Mama go to that page over and over again and it never fails to make me smile.

Uh oh! mama says it is time for a nap. She might be right, because my eyes keep needing rubbing, but I really don't wanna. Oo, but naptime means I get milkies and to snuggle with Mama! All right, Mama, let's go!

Chop chop!

I knew it would happen one day - the mom hair. I got to where I could no longer stand Chase tugging on it while he nursed, so one night last week, I asked the hairdresser to chop it off. What I hadn't entirely counted on was losing the last of my blonde hair. I've always been blonde, from my days as a towheaded toddler, through gloriously golden teenaged years, and finally into my highlighted 30's. Now? Mouse brown. ugh.

It's taken me a week, but I like it now. Or maybe I've just gotten used to it. Either way, I no longer bash my neck when brushing my hair, and I've figured out the right amount (much less!) of shampoo to use. Still working on the styling. I figure by the time I figure that out, it will be time to cut it again!

One of those days

I'm having one of those days. Chase is getting new teeth, which makes him an Unhappy Boy.

At least, I think that's why he's unhappy. He was restless last night - I woke up once to find him wrong-side 'round in the bed - and woke up early. He keeps shaking his head and tugging at his ear, but he has no fever, no snotty nose, none of the things that would otherwise signify an illness. So, by default, teeth.

He was up early and now refuses to nap. When we try, he ends up climbing all over the bed, and me. I gave up. Just now he is very happily busying himself with the dog door and the curtains across the sliding glass.

I got so tired of him tugging on my hair all the time that I cut it off on Monday night. Or rather, my hairdresser did. No pictures yet, but everyone tells me it looks good. The strangest difference to me isn't the length but the color. I stopped coloring my hair when I got pregnant, and lost the last of my blonde with this cut. I have never NOT been blonde, first naturally, then highlights, then full-on artificial color. It's strange to have dark hair, but I can be satisfied at least that I have no grey hairs as yet.

Very Busy Boy is now playing one of his favorite new games - Open and Close. He's using the baby gate right now, but he often plays it with a kitchen drawer, the bathroom door, or someone's dresser.

Meanwhile, I've been knitting him a sweater for his birthday. Today, I did up the shoulder seams, and if I get a chance I'll start on the neck/collar. It gets striped sleeves to finish it up. I hope he likes it when it's done!

All about Mama

Oh, noes! I've been tagged! (For those of you unfamiliar with the blogosphere, "tagging" is what happens when someone completes a meme [quiz or questionnaire, usually] and then asks another blogger to complete the same meme on their blog.) I'm going to refrain from tagging anyone else, though. 'Cause I think everyone who reads this has already been tagged.

The Rules: Link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours.

1) I used to be a cowgirl. I have a degree in Agricultural Business and spent time on a cattle station in Australia and a feedlot in Idaho. I loved the work - being outdoors, riding a horse, even building or repairing fence had a satisfaction to it that I never got from an office job. But I didn't like the people or (most of their) attitudes, esp. when it came to the environment.

2) I am a twin. That won't be news to most of you :-) I am second born by 10 minutes. There are two parts to the family folklore: a) Mom didn't know she was pregnant with twins, and only found out after my sister was born; and b) I kicked her out so as to have the womb to myself. Well, here she is getting me back by hitting me in the butt with a hammer when we were about two years old.

3) If my upper back and the back of my neck are cold, then I am cold. You'd think this would translate to a love of turtlenecks, but alas, I hate things close around the front of my neck - it makes me feel as if I am choking. Instead, I love any sweatshirt or sweater that covers the back of my neck, like hoodies or funnel necks. Before I had Chase, my favorites were half-zip sweaters, but now I need/like things that zip all the way open so that my lower back doesn't get cold when I nurse. And wow this makes me sound really picky, doesn't it??

4) I have always wanted kids, and when I was about 12, I decided my daughter (because I was NOT having a boy!) would be named Katharine Anne. Oh, to be mother to cute little Katie, who would grow up to be sharp and sophisticated Kate! But when I got pregnant, even before I found out that I was, indeed, having a boy, the name never crossed my mind. Because by then, the world - or at least elementary schools - was full of Katies and Kaitlyns. Instead, my chosen girl name was Claire Elizabeth.

5) I never outgrew phases. I think every kid and teenager goes through phases, but I feel like I went through quite a few as an adult. First there was the cowgirl phase, really an extention of teenagedom. Then I entered my soccer phase, where I was crazy about all things "futbol" - I started playing soccer when I was 24, I practically lived at the local British pub, I dated soccer players, and I fanatically followed the USA Women's team. OK, not too fanatically. But there was a time I knew all the players, knew when the matches were, etc. etc. I've attended both men's and women's World Cup matches, several NCAA finals games, and of course many San Jose Earthquakes games. Need I say the soccer phase also incorporated a wild party phase? Well, it did. Eventually, I grew out of that and entered my writer phase. And now I'm in my stay-at-home-mom phase, which I am enjoying very much, thank you. I wonder what will come next? Will I go back to the writer phase, find something new (knitting, anyone??), or outgrow phases altogether and find balance by incorporating all my loves into one glorious life?

6) I can trace my ancestry back to the Mayflower. That's on one side (my mother's). On the other side, my grandfather emigrated from Germany just prior to WWII. I'd say close to 75% of my genes are British (with the rest Irish, German, and Swedish), but I look very German - so much so that when I went to Europe in 1998, nearly everyone spoke to me in German.

7) I wish I were more Bohemian, that I were one of those people who wears flowy skirts, has purple hair or dreads, and lives in a loft. But I've never felt comfortable when I tried those things. Perhaps it's just that the lifestyle is better in fantasy in reality. But I guess at heart, I'm just a jeans-and-a-t-shirt, drivin' my Subaru kind of girl. :-)

Keeping promises

James just came in an reminded me that I haven't posted in over a week. And I promised I would post a couple of times a week. So, here is an entry ;-)

First Christmas Snow

I think I mentioned that we had snow on Christmas Day, right around noon. It was very wet, and didn't stick around for long, but the huge soft flakes were very pretty! Mama bundled Chase up and took him outside to experience it. He doesn't look very thrilled, does he? But we were thrilled our across-the-street neighbor, Jeff, was outside with his very nice camera and took this photo to preserve the experience for posterity.


These may not need to be preserved for posterity, but they ARE the first pair of socks I've ever knit. Also, so far, the only pair. It was hard getting a photo of them in action. Chase was far too interested in something else - trying to catch the dog, probably - to pose for Mama. That's OK. I have since made him a pair of matching mittens, and those don't stay on too well, either.

Before and After

Chase has great gobs of hair. We don't know where he gets it from; goodness knows neither of his parents are particularly blessed with loads of hair. But Chase was born with a head-full, and somewhere around 6 or 7 months old, he started getting more, and what he had already started getting long. Eventually those long bits started getting in his eyes all the time. Much as I hated to do it, we had to cut them. Mama did it in the kitchen with her old haircutting scissors (the ones she used to use on Auntie Greta in the backyard) with Chase sitting in his Tripp-trapp chair. Do you think he knows this kind of tending is just another type of Mama kisses?

Eats

I had a post all written earlier, in my head. When I was unable to get anywhere near the computer. Maybe it was in the wee hours of the morning, when Chase was nursing, and I couldn't sleep? I don't remember now, just a few hours later, and that should give you some idea of what happens to a mama's brain in the first year of parenting!

I do remember the post was going to be about food, and eating, and Chase. Always about Chase ;-)

I've been baking lately. It started at Christmas time, when I made some cookies for a "craft" swap. I promised 3 dozen cookies, and I didn't feel right giving the person 3 dozen of the SAME cookies, so I made three different kinds. Well, four kinds, actually, but one didn't turn out. I've been trying my hand at bread, too, but not very successfuly. And yesterday I made scones.

I realized I approach baking and knitting in much the same way - I make little changes here and there to better suit my tastes and my talents. I guess I've been doing this with cooking for so long that it seemed a natural approach with knitting, but it sure freaking my knitting friend out when I talked aobut making changes to a pattern - my first real garment, and the changes weren't simple ones like substituting the yarn, either. Though I did that, too! Wait, this isn't supposed to be a post about knitting! Back on track.

Chase gnawing on an apple core.

We started Chase on solid food back in the summer by letting him lick and suck on the pears and apples I was eating. A month or two later, we introduced him to bits of banana, sweet potato, white potato, avocado (not a success), steamed carrots, grean beans and red bell pepper. Yes, all things he could pick up on his own and eat as he wished. No purees here - we are following a trend the Brits call "Baby Led Weaning", although it doesn't have to do with weaning the way Americans think of it. It has to do with letting the baby be in charge of his food, and with letting them explore the natural tastes and textures of food, something that doesn't really happen so much with the "baby food" you can buy at the grocery store.

Extra bonuses - (a) It costs less. He just gets bits from our plates most meals. (b) We get to eat! At the same time! All three of us! No one is stuck "feeding the baby" while the other parent eats, and we aren't feeding Chase at his own mealtime. We get to have meals as a family, all eating basically the same thing. And Chase is getting better and better at actually getting the food in his mouth, although he still gets the majority of his nutrition and calories from breastmilk, and he loves his "nursies."

Oh, right! That is how I'm writing this post today. See, I knew it started somewhere...I am going to a mama-baby blessing this afternoon, and leaving the boy home with Dada. So I am pumping, something I don't do oftehm. I can't do much else when I pump, as I'm stuck in the chair. But I can type! I can also knit.

Which is what I think I'm going to do now. 'Cause this entry is SO adrift, I have no idea how to wind it up except by saying, "The End."

Making friends

When I was pregnant, I managed to hook up with a great group of local mamas. They have kids of all ages, but there happened to be a baby boom around the time of Chase's birth, with 10 (or maybe more) babies born within a month either side of his birth. Because of that, he's going to (hopefully) have a lot of friends to play with when he gets to the point of wanting to play around and then with other kids. In the meantime, I take him to "playgroups" mostly for me to spend time with other mamas. It can be tough trying to entertain a baby all day, and this week was especially hard since James went back to work.

Monday, we went to Urban Grind and hung out with the adorable Zel and her übercool mama, Rebekah. The mamas talked about jobs and writing and family while the babies tried to steal each other's toys and showed off their new sitting abilities.

Tuesday, we had a Mamilates class (pilates for new moms & their babes) at Zenana Spa, where we saw Liam and his mama, Savannah. Liam is SO strong! He can "fly" on his tummy for a really long time. And Chase covets his cool wooden rattle. After class, I put Chase in the Ergo carrier and we walked up to Mother Nature's so I could buy some new bumGenius diapers. Chase has outgrown his small FuzziBunz and we needed to replace them with something that fit. He fell asleep on the way back to the car, so I had time to buy some groceries, have a sandwich at the coffeeshop and even do part of the crossword before he woke up and we went home.

Wednesday, it was HOT. And not just for Portland. It got up to 94(f). Chase and I met up with a large group of mamas at Grant Park and sat in the shade. Some of the kids and even some of the mamas cooled off in the fountain. It was a nice respite. We sat next to Gracie and her mama, Summer. It was while we were measuring Chase against Gracie that the girl made her move. She hung onto Chase and didn't want to let go! He did try to slobber on her as well, but she really had the upper hand. Luckily another mama was there with her cell phone to make sure the moment was forever captured.

I wonder how many more pictures I'll have in years to come of Chase hugging a pretty girl?

...and then Mama kissed me!

Today, I woke up snug and warm between Mama and Daddy. They were still sleeping, so I sucked on my fingers and played with and talked to my toes. I rolled over and patted Daddy on the cheek, just so he'd know I was awake. He smiled. I rolled the other way to do the same as Mama, but she was already smiling at me. I patted her cheek anyway, and she snuggled up to me, patted my back, tickled my cheek with her nose and then Mama kissed me.

Today, she gathered me up and took me into my room. She changed my diaper, said the Snap Rap* and kissed me.

Today, we had milkies in the glider chair. When we had finished, Daddy was there, fresh and clean from the shower. He gathered me up and hugged me. Mama stretched, told Daddy he smelled nice while she hugged us both, and then Mama kissed me.

Today, Daddy played with me before going to work. We cuddled on the floor and he held up Giraffe for me to chew on. He changed my diaper, and tickled my tummy, and then Daddy kissed me. Soon he had to leave, and I was alone with Mama and the doggy.

Today, Mama and I went to exercise class. I got to play with Liam while his mama and mine stretched all their muscles and waggled their toes above us. Sometimes Mama held me while she moved around, and for a while she was above me on her hands. She dipped down over and over again, and each time she did, Mama kissed me.

Today, we went shopping at the grocery store. I like shopping; Mama carries me in a pouch and I can see all the neat packages and different colors and even all the people who are also shopping.

Today, the clerk smiled at me and at Mama and told Mama how cute I am. I smiled and ducked my head when the clerk smiled back and then Mama kissed me.

Today, Mama and I took a nap together. And then we played on the floor. Mama put me on my tummy and I showed her what I've been working on. First, I worked my way around to my left until I was facing a bit away from Mama. Then, I pushed and pushed with my arms until I moved backwards all the way off the mat. This scared me a little; I'd never gone that far before. I cried, but only until Mama picked me up and cuddled me. I pulled her hair and put my nose in her neck, and then Mama kissed me.

Today, Daddy brought a drum home from work. He sat on the floor with me and showed me how to bang my hand on the top. I could do this already on the table, but it makes a better noise when I do it on the drum. Then he let me lie on my back, stretch my shoulders off the mat and make loud noises with my mouth. I think this is my favorite thing, aside from sucking my fingers.

Today, Mama gave me my own spoon while she and Daddy ate dinner. I played with it, banged in on the table, and even got it in my mouth a couple of times. I think I got it wrong at first, though, because Mama took it from me and then gave it back the other way 'round. She laughed when I got my cheek instead of my mouth. Daddy laughed, too, and then Mama kissed me.

Today, Mama rubbed me with oil and gave me a clean diaper and changed me into my pajamas. She read me a book, then I cuddled in Mama's arms while I had milkies and she rocked me, back and forth, and I fell into a deep sleep. She carried me gently into the other room and put me to bed. I rolled to my side, and she covered me with a cozy blanket.

And then Mama kissed me.


*The Snap Rap is a little patter Daddy made up to calm me down at the end of diaper changes, while he does up my Onsie. It goes like this: "Are you ready for snaps? (high voice)Snap One! (low voice)Snap! Snap Two! Snap! Snap Three! Snap! (high voice) Snaps all done!"